And The Award For The World's Crappiest 12AX7/ECC83s Goes To:

[LLL]

Sovtek 12AX7WAs.

In the early 2k's, I bought 3 each of the current manufactured 12AX7/ECC83s for tone testing in my Plexi.

I still have them all (Sovtek LPS too, JJ, EI Gold etc).

I was thinking about my little tube stash and was remembering how awful those Sovtek 12AX7WAs sounded - bright and screechy yet somehow a total lack of detail.

 

[Gtrjunior]

They are so sterile sounding.
The only place the LPS can passably function is the phase inverter. Even then it’s low on my list of tubes to put there.

 

[Ascension]

JJ's are the ones that deserve that award not the Sovetecs. The Sovetecs I agree are bland and lifeless but still sound better than JJ's. The Sovetecs are also reliable and quiet two things that are foreign to JJ's. JJ's can turn a really nice amp into a toneneless souless muddy mess. Unless you get JJ's from a dealer who burns them in an testes them they are a crap shoot out of the box. Worst 12AX7 ever IMO is the JJ.
BTW when i bought the Red one off 100 watt Fender Prosonic from Brad Whitford that had been on the road with Aerosmith guess what was in the pre amp in it? Yep had a full set of Sovetec 12AX7 WA's!

 

[LLL]

The JJ ECC83s I purchased back then were lacking top-end detail but otherwise decent. Prolly best for a bright amp.

 

[LLL]

They are so sterile sounding.
The only place the LPS can passably function is the phase inverter. Even then it’s low on my list of tubes to put there.

I found the LPS to have excellent top-end detail, but perhaps a little too much detail.

 

[JamesPaul]

Indeed, the LPS was designed for the phase inverter socket. The "S" stands for it's spiral heater/filament. It was engineered to reduce"negative" artifacts in amplifiers using AC heater supplies.

 

[jeremy]

i like the lps, i like the jj too. usually didnt love the wa. just sorted all my tubes and i dont think ill need to buy any for at least a decade

 

[LLL]

The EHXs I had were, suspiciously, similar to the Sovtek WAs.

 

[LLL]

I found the Ei Golds (no longer in production) to be the best for current manufacturer. But this was almost 20 years ago.

But none of the current batches held a candle to the NOS Mullards.

Wonder what the new ones of today are like?

 

[ErikH]

I love JJ tubes. In fact, I recently put a pair in to my Vox AV30. Stock it comes with Ruby’s. They’re a fine tube but the amp was starting to not sound like itself. While I waited on them to arrive, I put in a couple of Sovtek LPS that I have from when I had my Marshall JCM 900 MkIII head and I was checking out different brands in it. The Sovteks were nice but the high end was a little too much and though it was a bold tone, even that was too much. The JJ’s sound much better to me and are honestly quieter than the Sovteks. In fact, when I had that old Marshall, that thing LOVED JJ tubes. Sovteks sounded horrible and very hissy. With JJ’s it was dead quiet. And that was with a full complement of them (3 x 12AX7 and 4 x EL34).

 

[jeremy]

the new mullards are good but not like nos and dont sound like an old mullard. the one new one i have sounds more similar to a nos voskod tube i have. no idea about it though, it came in an old amp i had

 

[Gtrjunior]

I found the Ei Golds (no longer in production) to be the best for current manufacturer. But this was almost 20 years ago.

But none of the current batches held a candle to the NOS Mullards.

Wonder what the new ones of today are like?

I have a Diamond bottom Telefunken in V1 of my Quickrod and it’s magic.

 

[Securb]

I have some NOS from the early 70s that sound great.

.

 

[Gtrjunior]

The JJ ECC83s I purchased back then were lacking top-end detail but otherwise decent. Prolly best for a bright amp.

I also find the JJ to be darker.
I know years ago there were some qc issues with them (as well as Chinese tubes) but in my more recent experience both seem to have fixed these issues.
I don’t dislike the JJ’s, they are just ok to me. I actually prefer the Chinese tubes to many other NP tubes.
Of course, the amp itself determines what tubes belong in it.

 

[Gtrjunior]

I have some NOS from the early 70s that sound great.

.

I have about 40 or so NOS tubes of all brands from the 60’s and 70’s.

 

[LLL]

I know we've been talking about preamp tubes, but gotta add I love those ("new") EHX 6CA7s for an EL-34 power tube.

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

JJ's are really good to tame a bright amp. They're also extremely durable in combos. So far they're the only tubes not to go microphonic and rattly on me.

 

[dave74]

Aren't those older mesa russian#2 the sovtecs? I'm not sure which kind of sovtecs they are, but they really suck for reliability, even in non cathode-follower slots.

For my Multi-Watt Triple I have a set of Doug's hi-gainers in the preamp. I can't remember the brand mix off hand, but those along with a set of Mesa str-445(JJ6L6gc) have really taken the amp much closer to where I was hoping to go, which is in the fuller/smoother/richer direction.

 

[GuitarStv]

JJ's are really good to tame a bright amp. They're also extremely durable in combos. So far they're the only tubes not to go microphonic and rattly on me.

I'll add to the chorus of people who say that JJs are kinda dark. At least the ones that I've tried. I like them for distorted sounds, but not for cleans. I have some old RCA tubes that I've been using for cleans which are quite nice.

 

[Gtrjunior]

I'll add to the chorus of people who say that JJs are kinda dark. At least the ones that I've tried. I like them for distorted sounds, but not for cleans. I have some old RCA tubes that I've been using for cleans which are quite nice.

I have a bunch of long black and short grey RCA’s and all of them are very, very good and musical tubes. The RCA are probably my favorite widely available at a decent price NOS tube.